Cougar girls, Falcon boys take victories

The difference in a good girls high school basketball team and a great one is usually a guard -- a hot-shooting, quick-passing guard that gets her teammates the ball while knowing when to shoot it herself.

The Goldsboro Lady Cougars have two such guards -- at least.

Senior Clintoria Bryant and sophomore Chevoya Jackson combined to score a game-high 19 points each from the guard spots and dished out 15 assists between them as Golds-boro knocked off Charles B. Aycock 66-40 to take a choke hold on the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Confer-ence title chase.

The victory in this battle of the top two teams in the ECC moved Golds-boro out to an 9-0 league slate and a 15-1 overall mark. Aycock is next in the race at 7-2, giving coach Gladys McClary's team a two-game lead.

Aycock's boys made it four wins in their last five meetings with Goldsboro as the Golden Falcons topped the Cougars 63-49. Aycock completed a regular-season sweep of the Cougars for the first time since the two teams became part of the ECC four years ago.

The Lady Cougars played a tight first half with a game Group of Lady Falcons, who battled the boards hard. Joyce Warrick, Lela Reid and Emily Stewart went toe-to-toe with Goldsboro's Ashelyn James and Jessica Faison, even outdueling them for second-chance rebounds and the put-back baskets that Aycock thrives on.

It was in the closing moments of the first half that Goldsboro's backcourt began to make the difference.

Aycock trailed Goldsboro just 25-22 as the half was closing when Jackson went the length of the court with a turnover for a basket. As the half was closing, Bryant came downcourt and rifled an icy three from the top of the key that stripped silk and sapped the Aycock optimism as Goldsboro took a 30-22 lead to the locker room.

"That three was big," said Aycock coach Gary Hales. "We knew we had to cover 24 no matter where she was."

"Clintoria's experience is such now that she takes what the defense gives her," said Goldsboro coach Gladys McClary. "She has the confidence this year - that three was a dagger, and it was shot in confidence."

Jackson took up the charge to open the third period, scoring 13 of her 19 points in that frame to trigger a 21-8 Goldsboro run.

"At halftime, we told the girls that Aycock was getting it inside," said McClary. "We knew we had to move on offense and defense and start shutting down the inside and run the floor better."

Center Ashelyn James had 14 points and forward Jessica Faison had 10, mostly triggered by deft passes inside by Bryant and Jackson.

Aycock's Warrick led the Lady Falcons with 10 points. Stewart and Reid had strong rebounding efforts for Hales.

"We did a good job on offensive rebounding in the first half," said Hales. "In the second half, their speed took over."

"They're just a good team."

McClary wanted to credit her husband and assistant coach, Ronnie McClary, for getting the team ready for the game. He ran practice in McClary's absence on Thursday and "he gets the credit for this," she said.

The Goldsboro girls coaching staff are wearing black bands on their wrists for the rest of the season in memory of the late James Kenan girls basketball coach Sherman Futch.

The Aycock boys used a 27-point final period to pull away from a pesky Cougar club, and did it with precision shooting. Jamorris Dickerson had a game-high 19 points and Montrell Sims added 14, while Aycock got two of its six threes in the final frame to turn a four-point lead into a 14-point victory.

"They showed a flash of maturity," said Aycock coach David West, whose team improved to 3-6 in ECC play and 3-11 overall. "The fans in the stands helped them a lot tonight. They got into it, and that got the boys into it more.

"This was a great atmosphere. This was high school basketball. I'd have bought a ticket to be here."

Goldsboro battled hard in the first half as the inside game got going and the Cougars (7-9. 2-6) played strong defense in the post. Freshman Daquan Joyner had 10 points with some nice interior work, while Adam Wright had a team-high 11 points and Chris Jones added 10 more.

"Adam and Ray (Brinson) had a good first half," said Goldsboro coach Randy Jordan, whose team is on a five-game losing streak for the first time in his tenure. "They were strong inside, they took good shots, blocked a lot of their shots and changed their shots. In the second half, we didn't box out and gave up too many second and third chance baskets -- especially in the fourth period."

West credited guards Sims, Brandon Gurganus and Brandon Hobbs with kick-starting the team at various points in the game.

"They got the motor running, and everyone else got on board," West said. "Goldsboro played well. It was a matter of our kids wanting it so bad."

Aycock will host South Johnston in non-conference play Wednesday, then travel to Southern Wayne on Friday. Goldsboro has home games Tuesday against West Craven and Friday against Washington.